I'm wondering if this new world mentioned (Novus Partus or whatever it is?) is actually Bruhnzvile, the 'new Cocoon' Hope and the Academy built to become humanity's new home following the old Cocoon's collapse - but which wouldn't make sense because that supposedly was also corrupted by the same Chaos which also turned Pulse and Academia into Valhalla at the very end of the second game. But I guess it will all be explained in time.

Some of those new city screenshots remind me an awful lot of San d'Oria from FFXI though, but it might just be my jaded eyes seeing things which aren't there. And no Cocoon script this time? That phone booth artwork clearly has the word 'TELEPHONE' written on it in English letters, not Cocoon script. But that might just be for ease of viewing in what is an early concept piece.

Man, why am I analyzing this so much? o.O

Vrykolas

09-01-2012, 05:50 PM

Why are video game presentations always so utterly awful? Why even bother having one at all, when you have so little to show? You've got the director dying up there, going on about roses, juggling model globes like he's making some profound statement about... something.

And Facebook. Because...?

I'm not sure even he knew what he was talking about half the time. The whole thing could be summed up as 'We're making FF13-3, but we're not calling it that, we promise that you'll honestly get to play as Lightning in the game this time, there will be an actual world and not a time destroyed wasteland... and we have some other ideas - but we can't tell you what they are.'

Its probably for the best that I wasn't there, as I would have been arrested for attempted assault when the word 'Facebook' came up on the screen. I swear if they make this game like an MMO, or needing a constant online connection or *anything* like that, then its dynamite vest time. Just finish the damn story, and I'll be happy.

Oh, and don't call it 'Lightning Returns'. Really... don't.

Olde

09-01-2012, 06:48 PM

Series director Motomu Toriyama began a presentation in Tokyo by showing an image of a rose, saying roses have many meanings.

Really? So this is basically a cover for "We want our game to have symbols, but we don't know what these symbols actually symbolize..."

He then said that this game is the conclusion of Lightning's saga. (No, we're not sure what that means either!)

Hopefully it'll mean THE CONCLUSION OF LIGHTNING'S SAGA. What the fuck do you think it means?

Toriyama said Lightning will make her comeback, returning as a stronger character than she was in the first two games, FF XIII and FF XIII-2. Lightning is going to face her final battle, so he asked the character designer to convey the power in her eyes.

Uh-huh, right, so how? Red eyes maybe? Al Bhed eyes?

It's the end of her trilogy of games.

Wait, I thought you just said you don't know what "the conclusion of Lightning's saga" means!!! Argh!!

From the start, Toriyama described features little seen in Japan's renowned role-playing game series. The game will offer players a lot of ways to customize their version of Lightning. Her outfits will be about more than just aesthetics. They affect her abilities.

Oh great. Because everyone just loved the dressphere system in X-2.

Character control will be more dynamic. She'll be able to hang off ledges, pull herself up, jump, duck behind corners.

And what is the point of that if the battle system is the way it is in XIII and XIII-2?

You'll be able to move her around in battle, a first, they said, for the series.

Ever heard of XII? I guess not... (Btw, if you read my complaints about FFXIII from last year, I mention the fact that you can't move the main character in battle as a ridiculous aspect of the gameplay that should have been corrected a long time ago. This isn't hard stuff, people).

During the presentation, we got a look at what might be the first screenshot of the new game. (If not, then it's a concept piece.)

So if it's not part of the game, it's a "concept piece." What a cop-out.

We also saw some concept art that begins to illustrate how different this game is from the standard FF game. The world of Lightning Returns runs in real-time. When the game begins, the world, called Nobus (Novus?) Partus, is 13 days away from the end. She has 13 days and 13 nights to save humanity. The game runs on a doomsday clock, shades of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Actually, I'm kind of digging this. It's a new concept to Final Fantasy (although the technique has been employed in RPGs since at least Pokemon Gold and Silver). Anyway, this at least has some potential as being a new way of corresponding with people, the environment, enemies, and could potentially create a new and interesting, if only experimental, dynamic to a pretty stale game franchise in terms of variety of environments within their games. Hell, even Ultima IV allowed you to experience the same cities at both day and night.

The whole game runs on a time-of-day system, with a monorail that moves through it on schedule, like everything else in the world—you can get stuck in one region waiting for the monorail to take you to another island.

...And suddenly the idea of a real-world time system takes a giant shit.

The game world touches on three themes: gothic, mechanical and fantasy.

Oh, you mean like EVERY OTHER FINAL FANTASY GAME EVER MADE?!

The game will be out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013.

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

But wait, there's more!

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Concept art galore...

Why? Are we that interested in seeing futuristic refrigerators, windmills, and chairs?

Oh, and don't call it 'Lightning Returns'. Really... don't.

x 2. x 10. x 1,000,000,000,000. But more than likely that's what it'll be called, as it's already a registered trademark of S-E.

Vrykolas

09-01-2012, 07:18 PM

I assume he means you can move your characters on the battle screen, like Star Ocean or something of that order. Which would be fine with me, to be honest - Star Ocean's combat was always loads better than FF's combat. Then again, it could be something to do with roses... I mean, they are seriously deep plants, with all that nature and the environment and feelings and stuff, man.

Or something.

nightzero

09-05-2012, 07:37 AM

potential spoilers ahead.
I do not know how to put the text in a spoiler box as there's no option to do so.

The game is currently 30% complete
This will be Lightning's last game and will end with a happy ending. The game has just one ending.
The first FFXIII was story driven, meaning that the story pulled the player along. FFXIII-2 was player driven, meaning players selected the story. Lightning Returns is World Driven, meaning players have to consider how they interact with the changing world.
The game's in-game time works out to one day being the equivalent of one to two hours of real time. There will be increases and decreases in time.
The game is meant to be played and cleared multiple times. The volume is not such that it will take many tens of hours to clear once.
People from XIII-2 haven't died. Because of the effects of the chaos (I'm not sure if this is the proper English word), people have stopped aging and don't get old.
The Novus world has four continents, two natural and two city-type.
Depending on your actions, the remaining life of the world could decrease, and the game could end before the 13 day limit.
There are some times when helping someone will decrease the life of the world.
Defeating some enemies and clearing some quests will increase the life of the world.
Lightning is all by herself in battle, allowing you to concentrate more than when you had to control a party.
Lightning has become a considerably more refined person.
You can freely move around during battle. Some elements of the battle system are timing-based.
The battle system is close to action. There's an ATB gauge.
During battle, you don't select menu commands. Instead, you select abilities which have been assigned to buttons.Hope will give guidance to Lightning via wireless com.
The city has clocks everywhere showing the constant progression of time.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is due for a release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime during 2013.

Source: [Only registered and activated users can see links]

Square is really sloppy with spoiling their games.

Vrykolas

09-05-2012, 05:08 PM

Not wild about there (apparently) being no party - just having Lightning for the whole game seems a bit much. Hopefully, you'll be able to recruit people as temporary guests or something like that, at least. I really can't see this decision being popular at all.

Dr Faustus

09-05-2012, 05:20 PM

Futuristic refrigerators and chairs are useful. Windmills, not so much.

FF7genie

09-13-2012, 02:13 AM

just look at the guy directing it, i bet he just made out with the guys backstage before his presentation...now i know why i didn't like 13.....talkin about roses an stuff.....would of made it alot more interesting if he had a lion in a cage up there instead..an didn't wear lip gloss.

Roast Chicken

09-23-2012, 08:10 PM

A[Only registered and activated users can see links] I wanted to know a little bit more about Final Fantasy: Versus XIII, at least is going to be realesed in 2013 so that means that FFVXIII is coming in 2013 (holiday) or 2014 (early)... But is Square Enix... :'(

DJYellowStar

10-14-2012, 02:20 PM

What's with all of the hate?
It doesn't seem too bad.

I never really liked XII from the beginning, but I'm excited to see the graphics and artwork in this game, just as I was with XII and XII-2.

Vrykolas

10-15-2012, 08:13 PM

They'd really be doing themselves a favour by changing that name. Its like calling it 'Super Skillo Final Fantasy YES!!!'

KAITO

10-26-2012, 03:42 PM

they say lightning always strikes twice...well now its three times

Sackboy

10-31-2012, 12:06 PM

A[Only registered and activated users can see links] I wanted to know a little bit more about Final Fantasy: Versus XIII, at least is going to be realesed in 2013 so that means that FFVXIII is coming in 2013 (holiday) or 2014 (early)... But is Square Enix... :'(

Just so you know, FFvsXIII and FFX HD are both lies.

Enkidoh

10-31-2012, 12:35 PM

Well, yes and no. Despite SE still saying 'we're still making it!', I'm starting to now believe FFvsXIII will never be released, or at least have what sparse code has been written for it so far dumped into FFXV.

FFX HD on the other hand - well, it's obvious that was just a Trojan horse designed to divert attention away from FFvsXIII's no-show, and hopefully also sell more Vitas at the same time in anticipation of a title they have no intention of doing. They did the same thing with a 'planned' port of FFXI for the same handheld, only to then come out and say "sorry, we're not doing that anymore." SE are becoming sadly very predictable nowadays with their releases.

eternalstarlight

11-11-2012, 03:29 PM

Wow.

And this whole time I thought the Lightning Returns thing would just be a DLC that was released for FFXIII-2.
I am a dummy.. (-___-;